His many off-field successes could reasonably lead one to conclude that John McDonough, the astute marketer assigned to Major League Baseball’s most historically anemic brand, is aware of the many immutable tenets embedded within the marketing discipline. Namely, that it is almost always cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
That the oft-oiled turnstiles housed at Clark and Addison were not in their usual perpetual motion for the latter half of this season suggests that Mr. McDonough may indeed be losing a goodly percentage of his year-over-year customers (lemmings?). In an effort to mitigate this, the Cubs’ new president will likely be challenged to perform some marketing magic.
Come April, as Mr. McDonough pulls the latest iteration of our beloved franchise from his proverbial hat, let’s hope the “new” North Side brand performs more like Gatorade than the Edsel. Or the 2006 Cubs.
